Theo Alexander

Born Theodore Zouboulidis in Athens, Greece, Alexander was driven to perform at an early age, acting in school and local theater productions while displaying a natural flare for comedy. When he was 18, in a move that tested his true calling, he attended Boston University to study business. But acting remained his first love, so he moved to New York and studied theater at Circle in the Square. He moved back to Greece and landed a minor role in the inspiring drama "El Greco" (2007), which chronicled the story of the Greek artist and freedom fighter, Domenicos Theotokopoulus, known to the rest of the world as El Greco. Alexander made his American television debut on the action-comedy series "Chuck" (NBC, 2007-) starring Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski, a 20-something computer nerd who accidentally downloads confidential government information into his brain, and Yvonne Strahovski as the feisty CIA agent tasked with protecting him. On the series, Alexander had a guest starring roles as a Greek Mafioso. He followed up with an appearance on "CSI: NY" (CBS, 2004-) and guest starred as a circus acrobat on the short-lived comedy series "Pushing Daisies" (ABC, 2007-09). In 2010, Alexander scored a star-making role on "True Blood," writer-director Alan Ball's sexy and gripping drama based on the The Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris, which followed the residents of a small Louisiana town who live among modern-day vampires that are treated like second-class citizens - widely seen as an allegory for gay rights. Alexander portrayed Talbot, the droll consort of Vampire King Russell Edgington (Denis O'Hare), starting in the third season. Talbot's character was originally conceived as British, but Alexander convinced the casting director that he was perfect for the role by wearing a kimono during his audition and speaking his lines in Greek. To accurately depict their centuries-old relationship, Alexander and O'Hare spent time together weeks before shooting began to work on building the emotions between their characters. As the King's significant other, Alexander's character was very sensual, uninhibited and appeared in some of the show's raciest scenes. In a much talked about episode, Talbot was engaged in a graphic scene with the vampire Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) that ended in a blood curdling staking of Talbot by Northman, thus - presumably - ending Alexander's run on the show. That particular scene was particularly challenging for Alexander, who was anxious about kissing his male costar, but conquered his fears with acting exercises and getting into the mindset of not caring about sexual preferences.